Oh my goodness; we’ve not done very well with our New year’s resolution this week – we have two Christmas presents heading for that big hole in the ground already 🙁

After showing off about how little food waste and packaging we created throughout Christmas, and a wonderful weigh in last week, we’ve rather let the side down today.

Never mind; we’ll be back on track by next Wednesday and will do our best to have a slim week. With Gloucestershire’s zero waste week coming up at the end of the month we need to get ourselves in gear for a successful time. We are still aiming to take a year to fill our bin, so need to do much better from now on!

Contributing to a portly post Christmas waist and wobbly thighs this week we have:

1 crisp packet

1 rice cakes bag

1 broken carrier bag

1 ryvita pack

1 plastic mushroom pack and clingfilm (ordered from supermarket home delivery – funny how I don’t always think about packaging when ordering online……..)

1 lentils bag

1 frozen peas bag

1 broken pen

1 dried bananas bag

1 plastic inner from sellotape reel

5 chocolate bar wrappers

2 broken plastic slinky springs – Christmas presents : eek

It weighs an astonishingly landfill burgeoning 203 gms. Oh the shame! I think we need to redefine things a little to try and get back under our weekly target of 100gms.

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I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (9)

Hey Mrs Green, This week was bound to be bad. If you saw how much paper and card and plastics I have here ready to go off to recycling you would probably never speak to me again!! Those plastic slinkies do that in this house too. Not sure what ds does with them. He keeps them though, not sure what for!! A lovely friend brought dd a metal slinky which makes a fab-tastic clattery noise down the tiled stairs in this house and seems much more durable too. What is it about slinkies anyway?? My kids are fascinated. They have also comandeered a lot of cardboard boxes that contained xmas stuff and have made them into dog kennels/ rabbit hutches… not sure why people bother with the actual toys. They both were busy making merlin staffs out of the inner tubes of gift wrap at my grandmas house on Boxing day, the pile of toys laying abandoned! Then there was dd’s gift to herself with her xmas money of a big sack of felt tips and a….stapler!! Her decadence knows no bounds does it??!! Anyway, I know you will get back onto it just as soon as the slinkies are out of the way 😉

The winter is the worst time for waste with limited fresh food locally. Alongside the festive season, this adds up to larger weekly totals.

Your metal bin seems small. I have a wheelie which can easily hold 2 full binbags. In theory, a 10 year bin challenge would be possible. Indoors, there is a metal kitchen bin currently holding 1 such binbag with all waste inside it.

Reducing the volume of waste is part of the issue. Plastic waste can be packed tightly. A small blue bag holds all the waste, with room to spare. If released, the volume of waste would be several time larger. Have you tried this yourself?

Maybe a 9 month challenge would be more realistic due to this small bin. Thereafter, a year’s attempt could be possible.

Another idea is to work out a formula which covers any family size, from 1, myself, to 3, your family with a pet factor, to 4, Mrs A’s family, and to any number beyond. Time factors could be adult, 3, child, 4, baby, 5, pet, 1.
These values are guesses. You might put different values.
Together these would provide a score for any family, giving an estimated target time to fill their bin.

I can definitely join you all in the slinky experience. We had one of those a few years ago. It disappeared for a while and I only discovered it when I was tidying up the garden sometime last year. It was hidden under a shrub. Strangely it was still in good condition, until the boys started playing with it again. Didn’t last long after that 😀

You’re still doing brilliantly with your bin, so don’t fret. And I’m sure Zero Waste Week will be such a breeze for you. 😀

I like John’s idea of trying to extrapolate the bin load based on members of the family. I’m sure Little T would throw a spanner in the works on that one though. Sometimes, he creates more waste than three of us put together. He’s gradually getting better but we still call him the bin saboteur x

101 ways with slinkies:
nail to playroom/bedroom wall in shape of child’s initials.
hang loose pieces in fruit trees to ward off thieving birds.
cut into circles for cardboard montage.
give to schools for imagination contest.
donate to church for colorful danglers in babysitting room.
decorate paper wraps and gift bags with sections of slinky.
hang off belt loops, and drape ties.
make a showy mobile to suspend in kid’s room.
tie with wool, for ecological banners.
your turn!

So, I’m really wondering what is up w/ slinkies? My soon to be 7 yo son also requested one this year! Having multiple past experiences w/ the plastic ones (seem to be popular in birthday goodie bags and trade shoe promotions) Santa opted for a metal one – 2 weeks later and still no tangles. However on New Year’s eve we did see a puppet show where a marionette had the body and limbs made from plastic slinkies that was really cool. Perhaps a professional can keep them from becoming tangled.

THanks Indiebird; it sounds like the cardboard packaging provided hours of entertainment over there!

Poppy, Mrs A, Sarah, nadine these slinkies have already been used as Christmas decorations and some kind of something or other for fairy land, but I couldn’t stand looking at the tangled mess for any longer!
I guess they are plastic because it’s cheaper.

Good luck with little T throughout 2009, Mrs A 😀

nadine, your talents really are wasted.

John, I was talking about this to Mr green earlier. If we had a wheelie bin, I think a year without filling it would be simple, but looking at our metal bin and our first week’s waste, it seems a bit more daunting. A REAL challenge! Ah well, we’ll see how we get on.

Deb, the professional sounds wonderful and I’m hoping your LO enjoys his slinky for a LONG time. I do have to say that LMG has an in built destructive gene. If it can be broken, she is the one to do it. I once found a CD shattered into pieces in her bedroom which she had done by hand. Eek!